It’s been more than 50 years since NASA has sent humans to the moon. That will change in a few years with the Artemis III mission, which is expected to bring multiple astronauts — including the first woman, person of color and an international partner — to the moon’s surface. Two of the three scientific instruments have been developed with the help of University of Arizona researcher. They cover a variety of fields, ranging from seismology to biology.
The Artemis III Mission is scheduled to launch in 2026 and will install the tools on the moon’s South Pole.
Angela Marusiak is an associate research professor at the University of Arizona. She is part of the team that is developing the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS.
She says there are different types of events that require seismometers, which record the movement of the ground during an earthquake or, in this case, a moonquake.
“So the shallow events that are a little bit more rare are essentially caused by the moon shrinking as it cools, not unlike how fruit can get wrinkly as it gets a little overripe," Marusiak said.
Marusiak says they will be able to measure other, deeper events as well.
“The other type of really common event is what's called a deep moonquake. These are events that happen deep down in the mantle, and those are caused by tidal interactions between the Earth and the moon. So like how the moon causes tides on earth that affect our oceans, we cause deep moonquakes on the moon," she said.
Marusiak added they anticipate that they will be able to measure when objects such as asteroids strike the moon.
Seismology has been a consistent area of focus for NASA astronauts. A seismometer was included in the scientific package brought along in the very first manned mission to the moon with Apollo 11.
The new station, LEMS, will be a continuation of that focus.
“Apollo laid a really great groundwork, so to speak, for what we could expect with Artemis. Now that we're heading to the South Pole, there's some other cool features that might be able to generate additional sources of moon quakes. So we're really looking forward to what we're going to be able to see," Marusiak said.
The next instrument is called the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer. It is being developed under the helm of University of Tokyo Professor Hirdy Miyamoto with support from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Miyamoto is an affiliate member of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.
“People kind of think that the surface of the moon is well understood, but actually that is not true," Miyamoto said.
He says the small tool will measure how the moon’s surface, called the regolith, responds to electromagnetic waves. That will tell scientists characteristics of the regolith, like how porous it is, and whether it holds substances that evaporate.
That is crucial as scientists are looking for a key element to life on earth.
“If water exists on the surface then it should be in the form of ice," He said.
Miyamoto said it is known that there is ice on the moon, but using this tool will help them get a better understanding of how much really might be up there.
“Ice may have been provided by comets or meteorites in the past. And once it hits the surface of the moon, it may escape from the moon. But lunar gravity is still pretty strong.”
Miyamoto said that means it’s possible the water migrated to other parts of the moon, such as its South Pole.
The final instrument is called the Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora, or LEAF .
It will be used to study plant growth and photosynthesis in space radiation and partial gravity. It is being developed by Space Lab Technologies in Boulder, Colorado.
Ryan Watkins is a program scientist with NASA’s headquarters.
“So this particular experiment is more tied to looking at long term human presence on the moon. How can we support humans via nutrition and what kind of crops can we grow," she said.
The crews plan to bring duckweed, thale cress and field mustard.
“They've been genetically modified to grow, germinate rapidly, so they'll have a controlled experiment. Look at how they grow over the course of a few days. Then they'll actually, freezing isn’t the right word, they inject them with something to stop the growth, and then the astronauts will return a few of them back to Earth to study. But then the rest will continue to grow and germinate over the course of I think it's up to 14 days, and they'll monitor those until the lunar night hits and ultimately then they will actually freeze," Watkins said.
Watkins says the instruments were chosen based on payload weight, scientific significance, and whether they needed humans to deploy them.
“There were plenty of other proposals that had high scientific and technical merit, but these are the three that really rose to the top from all of those categories," Watkins said.
Each will play a role in helping NASA learn how to develop and sustain a long-term human presence on the moon.
